Second impressions
by otavarica
Summary: Their first meeting wasn't pretty, nor was the second one. Thanks to Hinata, the third meeting was something completely else. "Say it like you mean it." One-shot, AU, NejiTen.


**...In which I got a request for a T-rated NejiTen with the romance/humor genre, and this happened. I hope this is at least close to what you were expecting, or that you enjoy it anyway! Writing this was a whole lot of fun, and it was such a nice change. ;w; There's also some KibaHina in the end, but if that's not your cup of tea, you can ignore it. o/ Some OOC-ness might be found in some parts, but .. that's what makes things fun, right? Please enjoy!**

* * *

For the past two years, Tenten had had a very distinct rule – kickboxing every other day, and yoga on the days she didn't feel like doing much. She had tried kickboxing for the first time when she was sixteen, and now at nineteen, she wouldn't give up on it no matter what.

Most of her experiences whilst working out had been great, as she'd gotten to sweat, get out any and all pent up aggression and most of all, she'd gotten to be alone without anyone bothering her; everyone did their own thing.

That was, of course, until the fateful Wednesday in October. She'd gone to the training place as usual, and again as always, hadn't been the only person there. However, as soon as she'd gotten near her usual sack, she noticed that something was off – the male next to her was too close to his sack, and honestly, seemed like an amateur.

Tenten smirked a bit. _Fresh meat_. She walked to the sack she usually used, the one in front of the male's, and began stretching while observing the newcomer. He was tall and somewhat well-built, but awfully pale; Tenten wondered if he'd ever even seen the sun. The male had his long brown hair on a ponytail, and she couldn't help but be a bit jealous of the length of his hair. If only hers was that long…

_Slap._

Tenten winced and shot an annoyed glare at the male, quickly understanding that he had just, indeed, kicked her in her side as he was standing too close to the sack.

"Sorry," the male said stoically, barely even giving her a second glance. Tenten could feel her eye twitching as the annoyance washed over her. She bit her lip in order to contain herself, because no matter how free of a soul she was, the last thing she wanted to do was to lash out at a stranger.

Tenten cracked her knuckles and put her boxing gloves on while shaking her head and ignoring the pain in her side. Even so, she had to admit – the kick was surprisingly weak, which she, then again, was more than glad about. Since it hurt now, she didn't even want to know how much it would've hurt if the kick had been as strong as it could've. _So he can't aim nor focus his strength._

With a chuckle, she then proceeded to her favorite hobby, the actual kickboxing. The male had to stop his own exercise for a moment so that he could fully observe the woman in action, and it would be an understatement to say that he was amazed. She was fast, strong and precise; not a single hit seemed to be weaker than the others, nor did any of them miss the target. Sensing that she was being watched, Tenten turned around to give the male a glare.

"Uh, sorry," the pale man was quick to say, cheeks slightly red from both the (attempted) exercise and embarrassment.

Tenten rolled her eyes, picking up on what she had been doing. "Please, do focus on your own training. You need it."

Annoyed by the comeback, Neji was quick to 'miss' another kick, which landed on Tenten's unharmed side, this time a whole lot stronger than the previous one. Tenten winced and turned fully around to look at the male, appalled.

"What the hell!" she yelled as she threw her gloves to the floor and started touching the hurt area gently. Her lowest ribs hurt quite a bit, and the acknowledgement of the possibility of them being even slightly fractured was more than enough to drive the passionate woman crazy.

"Whoops, my bad," the long-haired male said with about as much feeling as he had apologized with earlier. He gave Tenten one empty look before continuing his training, while the cursing woman retreated to the dressing room.

Swallowing the tears of anger, she was quick to find her friend's number on her phone and call her.

"Whatever you're doing, you must meet me at the Starbucks near the library," Tenten rather ordered than suggested, nearly shaking with anger.

"_W-we're kind of having dinner now, Tenten…_" She heard the quiet, soft reply, and groaned.

"Fine, just—come as soon as you can. I'll wait," Tenten retorted and cut the call, barely resisting the urge to throw her phone to the wall.

Twenty minutes later, the brunette was sitting by a corner table in the Starbucks she had asked her friend to come to, and was impatiently tapping the table with her nails. She understood that she would take time, considering that her father always insisted on everyone eating together, but the situation taken into account she forgave herself for being so impatient.

After some ten minutes, the dark-haired friend finally arrived. Tenten could feel some of her face muscles relax as soon as she saw the apologetic, beautiful face circled with shoulder-length indigo hair.

"I'm so sorry, father had so much to say…" Hinata sighed as she sat down, panting slightly; it was evident that she had come as soon as she could. Tenten shook her head as if to say that it was okay. The Hyuga huffed in relief and took her coat off, only then noticing her friend's still rather tense appearance. "So, what did you want to talk about?"

Just thinking about it sent Tenten back to the fury she had been in earlier, and she couldn't help but ball her hands into tight fists.

"So I went kickboxing as usual…" the brunette began to explain what had happened, from the very moment she had entered the training room until the moment she had went to the dressing room. "…and now it hurts like hell!" she whined and touched her side lightly, careful not to inflict too much pressure on the bones.

Hinata moved around the straw she had in her freshly ordered hot chocolate and swallowed, feeling slightly bothered. "Um… what was the guy like? Brown hair and very pale skin, by any chance?"

Tenten squinted her eyes – this was the kind of curiosity she would've least expected Hinata to show. "Now that you mention it… he kind of reminded me of you. _Please_ don't tell me that you know him, I don't want to hate a relative of yours."

Hinata laughed nervously and took her hand to her neck, tapping her fingers on the skin lightly. "Funny you should imply that, because… he's my cousin, Neji."

Clicking her tongue, Tenten tugged at her hair a bit, looking extremely defeated. "Should've known by the lack of emotion…"

"Huh?" Hinata asked with a cocked eyebrow. "What are you implying?"

"_Just_ pointing out that your family doesn't have a great record with showing feelings, and this _cousin_ of yours was very… apathetic, until I may or may not have made him a tiny bit pissed off," the brunette explained, trying to ignore the judging look on her friend's face. "But we're obviously good now! I mean, he did give me a few fractured ribs and is probably happy now – what could be better?"

Hinata sighed and brought her hot chocolate to her lips, allowing the whipped cream to tarnish her lips only for her to lick it off. "It's not good at all. I'll tell him to apologize to you, and… I think you could tell him that you're sorry, too?"

"But I barely did or said anything—"

"High pride, Tenten – another trait that runs in the family," the Hyuga pointed out, interrupting her friend, and raised her eyebrows momentarily so further increase the somewhat sarcastic tone she had.

"Ah, right," Tenten said and sighed. She couldn't deny it, either; she had never met people with as high pride as the Hyugas had, and to be quite honest, she was glad about it. Therefore it wasn't, exactly, a surprise that the idiot who had kicked her was, in fact, a Hyuga. "Get us at the same place at the same time someday and we'll get it over and done with, yeah?"

Hinata gave Tenten her usual bright smile, immediately seeming less bothered than earlier. "Will do!"

"What have I gotten myself into…" the brunet muttered, hiding her face behind her hands and shaking her head. Hinata giggled quietly and patted her friend on her shoulder.

"It'll be okay. I promise, after you've gotten to talk with him properly, you'll like him!"

* * *

"I _hate_ his guts!" Tenten practically yelled into her cellphone, which caused Hinata to jump in the air from the shock on the other end of the line.

"_Please, do further elaborate_," Hinata replied, sounding curious yet not in the least surprised, which in all honesty amazed Tenten – hadn't she been convinced that she'd get along with her cousin?

"Okay, so I met him at the café you told me to go to…"

_"__Now where is that guy—ah, there," Tenten muttered to herself, finally setting her eyes on the brunet sitting on one of the window seats. She walked up to him and cleared her throat in order to get his attention; he was too focused on his phone to register anyone standing next to him._

_"__Good day," the male said politely, only giving Tenten a quick glance. She rolled her eyes and took a seat next to him, sighing as she thought about what she had to do._

_"__So, Neji." Neji could feel his ears twitch as his name was pronounced without a single honorific by a complete stranger (and such a rude one, too!), but decided to keep quiet about it – after all, Hinata had told him to be as nice as he possibly could. "I'm sorry about making fun of your skills the other day. _Obviously_ there was nothing to improve…"_

_"__Obviously," the male said with a sarcastic tone, mentally cursing himself as he saw the discontent on Tenten's face. "Sorry about that. Uh, Hinata said that your ribs aren't exactly in prime condition anymore. I'm… sorry."_

_Tenten gave him an unimpressed, crooked smirk. "Say it like you mean it."_

_Neji's eyebrows rose in surprise as he tried to process the words. Was the girl actually implying that his apology was half-hearted? "I'm—"_

_"__Seriously, put some feeling into it! You're never going to appease anyone if you sound like you only apologize because you have to," Tenten groaned, a frown very evident on her face as she fought against the urge to slam her fists on the table. Neji licked his lips, trying to keep his composure._

_"__Excuse you, but I truly meant the apology. But if that doesn't satisfy you, you can forget about it," he said with a stern voice while coming down from the chair, about to leave the girl and the whole café._

_"__Where do you think you're going? We're not done!" Tenten was quick to follow the male out of the café, walking behind him and waiting for him to answer._

_"__I don't know about you, but I actually am done. Sorry about the ribs," Neji said quickly before disappearing into the mass of people, leaving Tenten alone and annoyed._

_"__Dammit Neji!"_

"…and now I officially hate him!"

Hinata facepalmed graciously, groaning rather uncharacteristically. _"You're both so stubborn and proud! If you only had accepted his apology, it would be all good!"_

Taken aback by Hinata's sudden outburst, Tenten took her cellphone a bit farther from her ear with wide eyes. "H-Hinata..?"

The Hyuga took a couple of deep breaths before regaining her calm, soft voice. "_What I'm saying is that he's too proud to repeat an apology, or any words for that matter, and you're too proud to take just any apology. I understand that you want it to be full of emotion and all, but it's not that easy for him. Had you accepted the apology, who knows, maybe you'd still be at the café!_"

"…Actually, no, we just really don't match, at all," Tenten groaned with a complete lack of amusement, although she had to admit that Hinata's words did have a point. Had she been too rash, once again? The Hyuga massaged her other temple on the other end of the line.

"_I'll talk to him and we'll see how to solve this, okay? I can't leave it like this, because from what he's said, he'll keep going to your kickboxing place, and I know for a fact that you refuse to change places._"

"Sure, do as you see wise," Tenten chirped and began looking for her keys from her bag, wincing as her ribs hurt a bit. "I'm now home, so I'll call you later."

"I'll be waiting," Hinata sing-sang and ended the call, putting her phone into her pocket. She let out a sigh and stood up as the bus reached her stop. It couldn't have been a better day for Neji to come over to her father's place for dinner – they had surprisingly much to discuss.

* * *

"Neji-nii-san, that friend of mine—"

"I refuse."

"No, hear me out—"

"I don't want anything to do with her!"

Wincing at the increased volume of his voice, Hinata shifted on her seat, moving a few petty centimeters away from Neji. She'd spent more than half of her life being afraid of her cousin, which was exactly the reason she refused to fully back off this time.

"You need to fix things! I don't want you two to continue like this," she insisted with a serious look on her face. However, the pout she had took a bit of the scariness away, and Neji mostly found her adorable. …Which then again was the exact reason why he was so weak against her.

"…Fine, but this time on my terms. If I see her, we talk, but this time you're banned from arranging any meetings, understood?" he asked sternly, pointing his forefinger at his cousin to strengthen his words. Hinata's face brightened up as she nodded excitedly, causing Neji to only sigh.

"Could we possibly now _eat_?" Hiashi asked with a defeated voice, a bit disappointed about the fact that most of the food had already gotten cold. Hanabi gave her sister a quick glare because she was hungry, meanwhile Hinata nodded happily. Her sister let out a relieved sigh and began eating at a speed Hinata had never seen before.

While the Hyugas were eating, Tenten was sitting on her couch, channel surfing lazily. She had had trouble finding a comfortable position to sit in, considering that her ribs ached no matter what she did, but eventually she had found a position that dulled the ache down remarkably. When she came to the conclusion that there was nothing good on the TV, she turned it off and threw her arm over her face before letting it slowly fall down. She was bored beyond understanding – all she wanted to do was to go kickboxing or do some yoga, yet all she _could_ do was to lie around her apartment!

"Damn Neji…" she muttered and clenched her teeth, bitterly accepting the fact that maybe, just maybe, it could all have been prevented had she kept her mouth shut. However, in the same thought, she also acknowledged the fact that she was Tenten; she didn't simply keep her mouth shut. If she had something to say, she said it. And that time she had definitely had something to say.

"What kind of a man kicks a woman anyway?!" the brunette groaned and punched her couch, sending a light cloud of dust flying out of the cushion. Sighing heavily, she then relaxed again, slowly slipping to a sweet sleep where she was a queen and nothing hurt. Not even the stupid ribs that the stupid beautiful Hyuga had managed to shatter with his slender leg. Not even those.

* * *

Two weeks later, after making sure that she was back in a good condition, Tenten managed to finally go to the kickboxing place again. She nearly regretted the decision the moment she stepped into the training room, though – there he was, training like his life was dependent on it.

Tenten snickered and walked to her usual sack, trying her best to ignore the sweaty Hyuga. Neji, however, had everything against that.

After he had quickly gone to the men's dressing room and come back, he cleared his throat as an attempt to catch Tenten's attention. The female, however, put her boxing gloves on as if nothing had happened. He cleared his throat for a second time, which was when Tenten began punching the sack. Frowning for a millisecond, Neji then accepted his defeat.

"Tenten?" he asked tentatively, as if trying to make sure he had the name correct. This time Tenten turned around in an instant, although her face was still rather unimpressed and unamused.

"Heard my name," she retorted and locked her eyes with Neji's pale ones, as if challenging them. The male held out a pack of aspirin, and Tenten was nearly bubbling with joy when she saw the embarrassed look on his face, accompanied by a faint hint of guilt.

"I, uh, thought you would like these," he said with a quiet yet clear voice and let Tenten grab the pack. She nodded, taking him by a surprise – what was this, was she _actually _not going to fight him again?

"You're a bit late, but thanks," she said and graced Neji with a wide smile for the first time. To him it looked more like her face had just gained a little bit of more color, and a tiny bit of attractiveness with that. "I'll thank Hinata, too. She _is_ the one who told you to give me these, right?"

"No, actually—" Neji weighed his options – he could either admit that he had been feeling a bit guilty and sorry for the girl, or he could keep up his cool image and say that Hinata had forced him to give the aspirin to Tenten, this way saving himself from further embarrassment. "—yes, do thank Hinata. She's such a kind girl."

The female grinned, nudging the taller brunet playfully. "I call bullshit, but whatever you say. Now, if you excuse me, I've got two weeks' worth of training to do."

Not wanting to turn the situation for the worse, and with his cheeks burning alarmingly, Neji slowly stepped aside to his own sack, proceeding with the training he had interrupted five minutes earlier. _Man, I must be a bad liar_, he thought as he kicked the sack, pouring all of his frustration into it.

A couple of meters away, Tenten was fighting against the wide smile that was trying to fight its way to her lips. In the end she ended up just pursing her lips, which she was sure looked hilarious, but that was the best she could do. The fact that she had just gotten pretty much what she had wanted felt amazing, and she wanted to enjoy it as much as she could. And, well, she had to admit that Neji's features looked a lot more pleasant after a pleasant encounter with him. _Maybe he's not so bad_.

After two hours of intense training, both Neji and Tenten were leaving. As she watched his back disappear to the men's dressing room, Tenten couldn't help but squint her eyes; had he timed his time of leaving according to her, or was it just her imagination? Must've been the latter one.

Only, when she entered the crispy October air, she saw him standing by the door, clearly expecting her. She could feel her eyes widen as her mouth hung open.

"Were you actually—"

"Do not say a word, I just want to talk things through," Neji interrupted her, frowning right afterwards. "—and I'm sorry for interrupting you."

Tenten chuckled and swung her long scarf over her shoulders, snuggling into its warmth. "You sure have a way with words, don't you?"

"What do you mean?" the male asked with a frown, staring intently at the evidently cheerful girl.

"Nothing, nothing," she hushed, then blinked her eyes a couple of times before moving her gaze to Neji's pale lavender eyes. "You wanted to talk?" He nodded, pushing his hands deeper into his pockets.

"I just wanted to say that I truly am sorry for being a jerk earlier. You had every right to be annoyed, and I didn't handle it very well… But don't get too cocky, because that'll just tick me off again," he warned, but Tenten could tell that he wasn't being completely serious. _Is he trying to crack a joke here?_ Tenten laughed just in case.

"I think we could, maybe, train together in the future," she suggested, moving her gaze from Neji's eyes to elsewhere and back, trying to get a glimpse of his reaction yet also wanting to avoid his gaze at the same time. To her surprise the Hyuga melted into a soft smile, a similar one that Hinata usually had on her face, and nodded.

"I think that that would be nice," he replied, kicking a small rock near his shoe. A rather awkward silence fell over them and Tenten was quick to leave, both because of the silence and the way her heart was beating.

"Damn, I hate handsome smiles," she hissed as she jogged home, trying to get the image out of her mind and feeling infinitely thankful for the fact that her ribs weren't aching in the least.

Neji scratched his neck a bit and turned to the way of his apartment, mind awfully full of the curious chocolate brown orbs and widely smiling cherry-colored lips. Frowning, he pushed the image out of his mind, focusing on kicking every small rock he came across.

* * *

"You seem to be in a better mood now," Hinata noted matter-of-factly as she brought a piece of cheesecake to her mouth, glancing at Tenten quickly. The brunette was definitely a lot more cheerful than she had been during the past four weeks, and Hinata could only imagine what the cause was.

"Really? Well, I guess things truly are looking brighter, especially now that your cousin isn't acting like a jerk anymore," Tenten mused, happily sipping her tea. Thinking about the male, she couldn't stop the corners of her lips from turning upwards. "And I guess I'm not giving him a reason to act like one, either."

Hinata let out a fascinated sigh, leaning her chin on her hand while her elbow was resting on the table. "Who would've known that you would eventually warm up to him."

Blushing, Tenten put her cup on the table hastily and stammered. "W-who said anything about warming up?!"

"You do understand that it's just a saying, right?" the Hyuga asked, giving her friend a knowing look. The brunette sighed and nodded while slumping her shoulders. "I'd say that the feeling is mutual, though. Neji-nii-san talks unbelievably often about some _'girl from work'_, but he only stumbles over his own lies and starts talking about kickboxing, which completely gives it away."

"Well, it could be anybody," the brunette squeaked, suddenly uncharacteristically shy, and attempted to hide her burning cheeks behind the large tea cup. Hinata giggled at the sight.

"As far as I know, there aren't too many girls with straight-forward attitudes, hair on twin buns and, quoting my cousin, '_a smile that looks like it could make flowers grow'_," the Hyuga snickered, enjoying the sight of the blush on Tenten's cheeks. She knew both her and her cousin well enough to know that neither of them would admit any kind of feelings anytime soon, but she knew that deep inside of them, there was a soft spot for the other one. What she also knew was that the two had seen each other quite a bit during the past two weeks, ever since they had talked things through, and frankly, Hinata was glad – they were both happy, and clearly enjoyed each other's company.

"W-well, that might be the case for him, but I do not have a thing for him," Tenten insisted, tapping her cheeks in a futile attempt to make the blush go away. Hinata nodded as if she accepted her words as a truth, when in fact she knew much better.

Recalling that Neji had mentioned having plans of meeting _the girl from work_ at four, and noticing that it was now five to four, Hinata cleared her throat and pointed at her watch. "Don't you have a meeting?"

"Shit, I do!" Tenten answered before she could fully even fathom the question and slapped her forehead afterwards, laughing dryly. "You got me there. I'll see you tomorrow!"

"Have fun!" Hinata smiled at her friend and waved slowly. The brunette rolled her eyes playfully and nudged Hinata's shoulder gently as she passed her.

The indigo-haired sighed, rolling a piece of cheesecake on her plate for a moment before moving her gaze to the cashier's stand. _How I wish I had something going on, too…_

Her eyes met with one of the cashiers – if she recalled correctly, his name was Kiba – and she couldn't help but smile at the warm, somewhat flirty expression that he aimed at her. _There we go_, she thought as she finished the cake, put her coat on and waved at the brown-haired male with a soft smile on her lips, her cheeks overtaken by a light pink color. She'd stop by again, that was for sure.

Meanwhile, Tenten was jogging at a fast pace as she tried to make it on time to the place she was supposed to meet Neji – he had wanted to go to a yoga lesson, and that was where she was to go to.

"I believe you are late." Tenten stopped immediately when she recognized the icy voice that still managed to hold a hint of amusement in it. "…Which is exactly why I set this time fifteen minutes before the lesson even starts."

Mocking shock, the female gasped and took her right hand to her chest. "How dare you imply that I'm late often!"

"Not only _often_, but almost every time, Tenten," the taller one pointed out dryly, melting into a small smile immediately afterwards. "Anyway, let's go in." He held the door for Tenten, smiling to himself. A couple of weeks earlier he would've probably went in before her and done his best to make the door to slam in her face. Oh, how things change.

The two separated as they went to the dressing rooms, changing into more comfortable clothes. As the two came out to the room where the class was to be held, they both had trouble tearing their eyes off the other one, yet neither could quite figure out why.

...Well, Neji could – the leggings that Tenten was wearing were hugging her legs, and the loose t-shirt brought in quite a bit of adorableness. He was clad in sweatpants and a tank top, which Tenten found unusually attractive; it wasn't the first nor the last time that she'd seen him in such attire, yet it still took all of her attention.

The teacher clapped her hands together a couple of times to catch everyone's attention, which naturally brought Neji and Tenten back to their senses as well. Shaking their heads, they both smiled a bit and moved so that they were standing next to each other, facing the teacher, with enough space around them.

_Must focus on this, not him_, Tenten thought to herself and shut her eyes tightly, yet she was still unable to fully focus on what was going on. She was just too aware of Neji's presence, which she thought was crazy – she didn't even know him that well! ...Well, actually she did, but… no, it made no sense to her. She had been spending way too much time with him.

Neji kept glancing at Tenten every now and then, having by now completely given up on trying to erase her from his mind in any way. If she was all he could think about, then that was it. And if she was all he could focus on when he was with her, then… then that's too bad, he couldn't (or wouldn't) do anything about it.

"Okay, now, bring your right foot to your left thigh…" the teacher said with a calm voice, which helped the partakers relax. However, as she had been suffering from rather bad inability to concentrate for the past few days, Tenten practically fell to her right side as soon as she had gotten herself into the tree-like position. She yelped when she realized that she had lost her balance, and yelped even louder when she felt herself land on someone else.

That someone else was none other than Neji – not exactly happy about what had happened, but not bummed about it, either. He stared at Tenten's large brown eyes, licked his lips slowly and poked her cheek with his forefinger. "You're too muscular to be light, you know," he said with a voice much quieter than he had meant it to be, swallowing afterwards. Tenten was quiet for a moment, too close to Neji to be able to function properly.

"A-ah, right, right," she stammered and tried to get up, but fell down again as she had been too hasty. This time Neji took a hold of her and helped her get up properly, holding her still for a moment in order for her to regain her balance.

"Such a klutz," he snickered and shook his head, causing Tenten to pout. Not that she would've been actually offended, of course.

"And proud of it," the female grinned, stretching a bit and massaging her leg that had hit the floor when she had fallen over with Neji. "Anyway, sorry about that…"

The Hyuga brought his finger to Tenten's lips, effectively shutting her up. "We're disturbing the lesson." She nodded slowly, cursing the speed her heart was beating at.

Maybe, just maybe, there was a chance that she actually _had_ developed feelings for him. Maybe.

_Damn Neji_.

* * *

Two weeks later, after way too many encounters and hang-outs with Neji, Tenten had finally come to terms with the way her heart fluttered annoyingly any time she saw Neji smile or whenever she was close to him. That didn't stop her from hiding it, though. Or, _trying_ to hide it.

By the end of said two weeks Neji had noticed a couple of things. For one, Tenten stammered a lot more than she used to, and two, she blushed a lot more often, too. Neither of the two was usual for her per se, although he knew her well enough to say that those two usually occurred when she was embarrassed, which then again led him to the conclusion that lately she'd gotten embarrassed around him _a lot_.

"Am I making you uncomfortable?" Neji asked with a frown, eyeing intently the brunette on the other side of the table, startling her momentarily.

"Of course not!" Tenten exclaimed quickly, breaking into a nervous laugh. "What makes you think so?"

"You just… seem like I somehow make you uncomfortable. Actually, you seem that way a lot," the Hyuga mumbled, stirring his tea with a spoon. They were in his apartment for the first time, and he figured that the place was, in a way, safe enough for him to ask a question that could possibly result in an awkward silence or situation.

Tenten froze for a moment. Her brains worked to the best of their ability to come up with a sensible, believable explanation to her behavior, which, she had to admit, had been weird. _Say that you're stressed or that you've just gotten more emotional! Say _something!

"I like you," the brunette blurted with a straight face. Several seconds passed in utter silence with the two only staring at each other's eyes before Neji could react or Tenten could understand what she had just said. She gasped loudly, eyes as wide as plates, and licked her lips that felt like they were dry of any moisture. "I-I-I mean I'm very stressed at the moment and and and—I don't mean to, no, you don't make me feel uncomfortable at all! You make me feel warm, but not uncomfortable! …Oh god, that came out wrong…"

Neji laughed at the sight in front of him, which was enough to make Tenten silent. She was as red as a tomato, and couldn't say a word from the embarrassment.

"That's all very good information to know," he said calmly, although he was bursting inside for the first time in ages. He rarely felt too strongly about much of anything, but this… this had him bubbling with joy. He could feel his gaze grow softer as he smiled warmly at Tenten. "Especially the first one."

The girl seemed confused for a while – it felt as if the past four minutes hadn't ever happened.

"_'I like you'_," Neji repeated with much more feeling than he had intended to. Tenten could feel her ears burn.

"Ahaha, that's funny, because I can't tell if you're just telling me what I said or if you actually mean that..." she laughed nervously, but her eyes were wide and almost scared, even. Neji reached over the table to caress her hand. Tenten faced his eyes shyly, letting her hand relax in his. "Say it like you mean it."

The Hyuga smirked. "You know I don't like repeating myself."

"I thought you could make an exception," Tenten said innocently, shifting on her seat.

To her surprise, Neji stood up and leaned over the table, taking his free hand to Tenten's warm cheek. He let his thumb caress the heated skin, while his lips were nearly brushing hers.

"I like you." Neji was barely even able to finish his words by the time Tenten had leaned up to kiss him. He smiled against her lips and replied to the kiss, hand still on her cheek.

Tenten broke the kiss slowly, biting her lower lip as she did her best to contain herself. Neji sat back on his seat, observing the female with a lopsided smile.

"Uncomfortable?" he asked, cocking his eyebrow teasingly. Tenten grinned.

"Not in the least."

Neji dragged his chair next to hers and pulled her close to him. She swallowed when she could feel his breath on her ear, which only added to the burning sensation.

"Now?" he whispered, touching Tenten's ear slightly with his lips.

"…Actually yeah, that's a bit too close," she said hurriedly, pulling away from the male hastily. Neji chuckled and nodded in understanding; at least she was able to admit when it was too much.

Without a word, Tenten then leaned her head against Neji's shoulder, soon relaxing against it.

"I'm not really into this kind of sappy stuff," he mumbled, yet still rested his head on top of hers.

"Shut up and let me try to cuddle," Tenten muttered and moved a bit closer, taking in the faint scent of Neji's cologne - man, it smelled good.

He chuckled, and even without a reply, Tenten knew that it was his way of giving her the permission to _try to cuddle_.

At that moment she swore to herself that one of her goals was to make him into a cuddly person. Her other goals included embarrassing him in public, but that was a whole other story.

* * *

"…And that's how we fell in love!" the brunette exclaimed excitedly, dressed in her wedding gown, arms linked with Neji's. The crowd cheered loudly, and a couple of the guests were sighing dreamily at the story that had just been finished.

Hinata, however, was standing a bit farther away, a tall brunet next to her.

"And this is all thanks to me," she mused, obviously pleased with herself. Kiba snickered, nudging his girlfriend with his elbow.

"You like playing Cupid, huh?" he asked with a smirk, showing off his fangs as he did so. Hinata leaned against him contently, shrugging.

"I'm not sure about that, but I like love," she said in a wondering manner, looking up to Kiba's eyes. "And I like loving you."

The brunet could feel his cheeks heat up, and he cleared his throat. "What does that have to do with the wedding couple?"

"Nothing, I'm just saying," Hinata chuckled and grabbed Kiba's hand, squeezing it. He glanced at her from the corner of his eye, appreciating the deep red dress that she was wearing for the nth time that evening.

"I like loving you too," he muttered quietly, giving the side of her head a peck. She smiled widely.

"Time for the bouquet!"

Before Hinata had even been able to think about moving, Kiba had already pushed her towards the voice. When she turned to look at him in surprise, she was only met with a bright red face and eyes that avoided her gaze.

She laughed heartily, jogging to join the large group of women waiting for Tenten to let the fateful group of flowers fly.

* * *

**I really hope that you enjoyed reading this! Feel free to leave a review to help me improve, or just to make me happy. :3**


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